# Help! I need to write a simple message in Spanish
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 27, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531 "2011-07-27T19:50:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/1 "2011-07-27T19:50:27Z")
Two simple messages, actually.
A month or so ago a contractor had a crew re-do the flagstones on our back porch. One of them has subsequently separated from its cement to the point that the cement around it is cracked and it’s wobbling about when you walk on it (which definitely shouldn’t be). Hairline cracks have developed around several of the other flagstones (they’re still solidly cemented in, but I suspect that this shouldn’t be either).
I called the contractor about the wobbly flagstone (I hadn’t noticed the hairline cracks yet) and he is sending someone to look at the problem tomorrow. Unfortunately, nobody will be home at the time. Fortunately, I can write something on paper and tape the papers to the problem flagstones. Unfortunately the person the contractor is sending probably only speaks Spanish - and I neither speak nor write Spanish. (Even if the person he sends also speaks English, he’ll definitely speak Spanish.)
I want to leave the following two notes. Can anyone help me and translate them into Spanish?
(Taped to the wobbly flagstone) “This is the big problem”
(smaller signs taped to the other flagstones) “Are hairline cracks a problem?”
Thanks in advance!
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### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/2 "2011-07-27T19:56:08Z")
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>
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This is the big problem = Éste es el problema grande
Are hairline cracks a problem? = ¿Son las grietas de rayita un problema?
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/3 "2011-07-27T20:13:16Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#):
>
> [http://babelfish.yahoo.com/](http://babelfish.yahoo.com/)
>
> This is the big problem = Éste es el problema grande
>
> Are hairline cracks a problem? = ¿Son las grietas de rayita un problema?
Your first translation is OK, but the second one is way too literal. I’d replace “de rayita” with “chiquitas” in the second phrase. More colloquial/normal way of saying that.
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/4 "2011-07-28T00:58:29Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> Your first translation is OK, but the second one is way too literal. I’d replace “de rayita” with “chiquitas” in the second phrase. More colloquial/normal way of saying that.
For some fun, let’s translate it back to English, literally.
“¿Son las grietes chiquitas un problema?”
“Are the little girl cracks a problem?”
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### Author:  [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/5 "2011-07-28T01:46:56Z")
¿Shouldn’t it be _una_ problema?
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### Author:  [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/6 "2011-07-28T01:55:27Z")
> [@Washoe](#):
>
> ¿Shouldn’t it be _una_ problema?
Problema is actually a masculine noun in Spanish. (e.g. El Problema not La Problema).
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/7 "2011-07-28T03:44:55Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#):
>
> [http://babelfish.yahoo.com/](http://babelfish.yahoo.com/)
>
> This is the big problem = Éste es el problema grande
>
> Are hairline cracks a problem? = ¿Son las grietas de rayita un problema?
Posting a link to babelfish when you can’t actually provide a foreign-language translation yourself is unlikely to be very helpful. Babelfish is very frequently inaccurate. We have enough native and fluent Spanish-speakers here that there’s no need to use something like babelfish.
[QUOTE=robert\_columbia]
For some fun, let’s translate it back to English, literally.
“¿Son las grietes chiquitas un problema?”
“Are the little girl cracks a problem?”
[/QUOTE]
A good example of why word-for-word translations don’t work.
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### Author:  [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/8 "2011-07-28T05:12:56Z")
“This is the big problem”
Esto es el gran problema
“Are hairline cracks a problem?”
¿Darán problemas las fisuras en el cemento?
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### Author:  [@grama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grama)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/9 "2011-07-28T11:25:21Z")
I prefer ‘este es el gran problema’ to ‘esto es el gran problema’ i can’t picture myself saying the second.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/10 "2011-07-28T14:13:25Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> A good example of why word-for-word translations don’t work.
Yeah, but actually the problem there is in the back-translation. “Chiquita” means “little girl”, yes, but it also means “little (female whatever)”. You can have a mesa chiquita, a little table.
Agree with **grama** ’s substitution and with the other translation by **bardos**.
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### Author:  [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/11 "2011-07-28T20:36:06Z")
Thanks all.
I ended up writing “This one is the major problem” in both English and Spanish on a piece of paper that I taped to the flagstone that, well, was the major problem. I then wrote “cracked” (in English only) with an arrow on a number of 3x5 cards that I taped to the flagstones that had hairline cracks in the cement holding them in. I figure the guy cements flagstones onto porches for a living, so he can probably figure out what the signs are referring to - and if I asked if something was a problem the likely answer would be “no”.
I just got home and I don’t think the fellow ever showed up so I’ll leave the messages taped to the flagstones.
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/12 "2011-07-28T22:32:29Z")
> [@Nava](#):
>
> Yeah, but actually the problem there is in the back-translation. “Chiquita” means “little girl”, yes, but it also means “little (female whatever)”. You can have a mesa chiquita, a little table…
I would personally use pequeña (or pequeño if masculine) to say “little” in general. To me, “chiquita” is the diminutive of “chica” (girl).
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/13 "2011-07-28T22:45:17Z")
> [@Washoe](#):
>
> ¿Shouldn’t it be _una_ problema?
It’s already been answered but I thought you’d be interested in some trivia. In most cases, spanish words that end in -a and are also derived from greek have a masculine ending. Problema, dilema, programa, tema, sistema, etc are all masculine despite ending in -a. Why? I dunno, they just are.
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/14 "2011-07-28T22:57:49Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#):
>
> It’s already been answered but I thought you’d be interested in some trivia. In most cases, spanish words that end in -a and are also derived from greek have a masculine ending. Problema, dilema, programa, tema, sistema, etc are all masculine despite ending in -a. Why? I dunno, they just are.
Also, el esquema, el clima, el aroma, el enigma, el diagrama, el drama, el cólera, el poema, el telegrama, el teorema and el diploma. Those should be pretty easy to decode if you know your Greek derived English words. All of them have cognates in English.
Shame on you. Go back to school.
scheme, climate, aroma, enigma, diagram, drama, cholera, poem, telegram, theorem, and diploma
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/15 "2011-07-29T03:26:57Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> I would personally use pequeña (or pequeño if masculine) to say “little” in general. To me, “chiquita” is the diminutive of “chica” (girl).
I give you [Chiqui (or Txiki) Beguiristáin](http://www.elconfidencial.com/cache/2008/06/26/68_begiristain.html) (middle one in the pic), [Chiqui Urdangarín](http://www.casareal.es/doninaki/index-ides-idweb.html) or my own Littlebro. In these three cases, Chiqui is the shortening of Chiquito, as they happen to be the youngest siblings/cousins (if you’re from Euskadi, Navarra or thereabouts and the youngest sibling, whether male or female, you have a 70% prob of being a Chiqui your whole life - if you’re the youngest cousin, it goes up to 100%). A chiquito is also a half-glass of wine, in the same area.
While it’s true that chiquito/a derives from chico/a, it’s a word in its own right and with its own meanings.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/16 "2011-07-29T23:08:03Z")
I was taught that the general rule was that, if it ends in -ma, it’s probably from Greek and therefore masculine.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/17 "2011-07-29T23:34:29Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> I was taught that the general rule was that, if it ends in -ma, it’s probably from Greek and therefore masculine.
What about a story of Peruvian nighttime celebrity wardrobe malfunction? No veas la mama de la llama en pjiama en la cama? !Es una trama siguiendo tu fama! (Y un trauma también, entendido.)
Native English speaker… native Spanish speakers may point and laugh at me.
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2011, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/18 "2011-07-29T23:41:43Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> I would personally use pequeña (or pequeño if masculine) to say “little” in general. To me, “chiquita” is the diminutive of “chica” (girl).
Out of curiosity, where did you learn Spanish? In my travels around Mexico and Guatemala, and here where the Spanish speakers are mostly Central-American, I almost never hear pequeño/a. It’s always “chiquito” this and “chiquita” that.
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### Author:  [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/19 "2011-07-30T00:12:10Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#):
>
> Out of curiosity, where did you learn Spanish? In my travels around Mexico and Guatemala, and here where the Spanish speakers are mostly Central-American, I almost never hear pequeño/a. It’s always “chiquito” this and “chiquita” that.
In the part of Mexico I am currently (Quintana Roo, pretty near Guatemala) I came in saying “chiquito” for objects that are small but have been corrected many times to “pequeno”. In this area at least chiquito seems to usually apply to living or animate things; puppies, mountain brooks, little children, etc. are cosas chiquitas, hairline cracks would be fisuras pequenas. If you said chiquitas it would be sort of like implying the cracks are in some way endearing to you by their smallness. Like saying “itsy bitsy” instead of “little” (my interpretation as a confused foreigner here trying to learn the local Spanish).
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### Author:  [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-need-to-write-a-simple-message-in-spanish/590531/20 "2011-07-30T01:03:43Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#):
>
> If you said chiquitas it would be sort of like implying the cracks are in some way endearing to you by their smallness. Like saying “itsy bitsy” instead of “little” (my interpretation as a confused foreigner here trying to learn the local Spanish).
Perhaps, but it’s become so common that the endearing nature of the dimunitive has… well, diminished. To the point that when I hear someone (usually a woman) who really wants to gush over some small thing’s cuteness, they say _chiquitita_.